Chapter 48: The Mountain "Hero"

Red leaves fluttered like fire, while yellow leaves danced in the fading light.
The late autumn sky was a brilliant azure, utterly cloudless.
Occasionally, a flock of wild geese flew southward, leaving behind echoing cries.
High atop Baling Mountain, within the Hall of Righteous Gathering, flames roared fiercely, crackling as they burned.
Climbing Tiger sat upon the high platform, occupying the chief seat.
Flanking him to his left and right were his subordinates: White Cloud Crane, Black Dragon, Little Sword Demon, Morning Star, and Datura.
"Brothers!"
Climbing Tiger's voice boomed, reverberating through the vast Hall of Righteous Gathering. "Word has come from our brothers down the mountain—the government has mustered Bear-Yellow's archer battalion and is coming to attack our Baling Mountain!"
"Hahahaha!"
The hundreds of "braves" in the hall immediately burst into raucous laughter, their booming mirth nearly blowing off the roof.
Not a single one of them felt fear.
Bandit suppression, bandit suppression—had it not been attempted time and again? Every single time, the government forces had returned home with broken feathers and shattered pride.
Sometimes, they even managed to "suppress the officers," running the imperial troops ragged in the mountain forests and seizing plenty of armor, swords, and crossbows in the process.
"Look at those pathetic government dogs. I'll kill one for every one that comes, and a pair for every pair!"
"Right you are! What is there to fear? Let's paint the ground with their blood!"
"Those spineless officials actually dare to provoke us; it truly rubs me the wrong way! How about I take some brothers down to slaughter a village, just to show them what we're made of?"
"Third Brother is right! We can't let them get away with this!"
Voices clamored throughout the hall as the bandits flexed their muscles, eager for violence.
Winter was coming, and they would soon need to descend the mountain to plunder a few times, stockpiling grain for the cold months ahead.
And perhaps capture a few women to amuse themselves.
"Hahahaha, well spoken, brothers!"
Climbing Tiger stood up, strode forward a few paces, and took his place at the very edge of the high platform. Like a silverback gorilla, he beat his chest forcefully, producing a resounding *thud, thud*.
"Brothers! Is life not a damned joy following your Climbing Tiger?"
he bellowed.
"A joy! A joy! A joy!"
The bandits leaped to their feet, raising their arms and shouting in response.
"Do you want to keep enjoying it?"
he roared.
"We do! We do! We do!"
The bandits roared back in a frenzy.
Endless food, inexhaustible women, boundless treasures, ceaseless slaughter of common folk, endless amusement, and bottomless flagons of fine wine. Gathered together into an illicit violent organization, and revelling in all the material and spiritual delights afforded by organized violence, they had long since sunk deep into depravity, losing themselves entirely in the pleasure. Their minds no longer retained a shred of the common "subject."
"Hahahaha! Good!"
Climbing Tiger laughed wildly, his voice like a raging gale, and slammed his hand down onto the stone tablet before him.
The tablet instantly shattered into pieces, rubble scattering across the floor!
"Go, all of you! In these next few days, I shall lead you down the mountain myself!"
As Climbing Tiger finished speaking, the Hall of Righteous Gathering erupted into a chorus of excited, feral howls.
Descending the mountain meant plundering wealth, killing for sport, and violating women.
And with the Grand Chieftain leading the way, it promised to be a joyous festival of plunder. Naturally, the bandits were ecstatic.
Sometimes, the bandits would wonder: What was the point of those so-called mountain hunts enjoyed by the nobility?
When riding horseback with bow and crossbow, driving humans like startled chickens and terrified rabbits, watching those panicked, fearful, pleading, and helpless people flee while streaming tears of terror—as they notched their arrows and occasionally let one fly just to push their prey to the brink of despair—
until those people finally collapsed from exhaustion, trembling like winnowing sieves as they kowtowed, only to be struck down by a final arrow, watching them twitch a few times before dying instantly—that sense of satisfaction, how could it ever compare to shooting a few rabbits or slaughtering a couple of deer?
Once enlightened and gone to the greenwood, even the Emperor himself holds no candle to us.
The bandits dispersed, and the Hall of Righteous Gathering grew quiet.
Climbing Tiger's expression turned cold. "Second Brother, starting tomorrow, take a few men down the mountain and keep your eyes glued to those government troops for me."
"Don't you worry, Eldest Brother!" White Cloud Crane patted his chest.
Climbing Tiger then turned to Black Dragon. "Third Brother, you cannot idle either. Go and contact those cowards at Camel Mountain once more. Damn it all, who knows where that pack of cowards found their fence routes. See if we can offload the goods we've got through them."
Black Dragon nodded. "Why don't I have Fifth Sister go with me? Her mind is sharp; she might just be able to worm the truth out of those cowards so we can take control of that route ourselves."
"Very well."
Climbing Tiger thought for a moment and nodded.
"As long as Camel Mountain is unwilling to give up this route, they will definitely come!"
Su Daoran said with absolute certainty inside the magistrate's yamen in Wuren County.
From late September to the end of November in the fourteenth year of Jingsun,
from the sweltering heat to the biting autumn wind.
After more than two months of training, the camp soldiers might not have become elite troops, but they had certainly acquired a baseline combat capability.
A real battle might well be the crucible that transformed them from mere caterpillars into butterflies.
An Xin had already donned a lined short jacket, totting two smooth, rounded iron balls in his hands. As the iron balls clicked together, they occasionally generated barely visible sparks of static electricity.
"That being the case, we shall proceed according to the plan. Patriarch Su is a sensible man; I need not say superfluous words."
He looked at Su Daoran, his voice so flat that neither joy nor sorrow could be discerned.
"This Su possesses only this broken frame; I ask for nothing more than to carve out a path of survival for the Su family."
Su Daoran said with sorrow, "I have already written the letter. Later tonight, I shall quietly send my steward up Camel Mountain, using the pretexts of 'fencing stolen goods' and 'transporting autumn grain' to lure them down to the northern township of Tongshan."
An Xin took the letter written by Su Daoran, read it through carefully, and failing to find any hidden tricks within, handed it over to Wan Zewen.
Master Wan read it through with equal care, likewise finding no issues, before slipping it into an envelope.
"Go."
An Xin waved his hand, and Su Daoran departed.
A figure by the door slipped away as well—it was the young general Zhao Zheng.
At a moment like this, not the slightest carelessness could be tolerated; not a single link in the chain could afford to fail.
Zhao Zheng would shadow Su Daoran, making contact with designated agents every single hour. Should any problem arise or contact be broken, the preceding plan would be aborted immediately.
"My Lord!"
Wei Shuye, dressed entirely in black, pushed open the door, bringing with him a gust of autumn wind that fluttered the papers on the desk.
He reported, "The camp soldiers are all prepared. The camp gates will be sealed today, and we set out tomorrow at the second quarter of the Yin hour!"
"The archer battalion's target is too large; no matter how we conceal our movements, it will be difficult to evade the bandits' hidden informants. Those two packs of bandits are as cunning as foxes, and having entrenched themselves in Wuren County for six or seven years, their networks are deeply rooted. Who knows if a roadside tea stall, some wandering peddler, or a village along our route might harbor their eyes and ears."
Wan Zewen knew that setting out under the cover of night might still fail to escape the bandits' notice.
Especially since the news of the bandit suppression had already leaked, having long since alerted the outlaws.
Wei Shuye let out a scoff. "Master Wan's words are not without reason, but when all is said and done, they are merely a band of mountain bandits. If they possessed such meticulous minds, wouldn't they have risen to great power long ago?"
Wan Zewen, however, did not share this view. He shook his head and said, "The government troops have launched suppression campaigns several times, and on two occasions suffered heavy losses. The fact that these two bandit factions still exist to this day is proof enough of their cunning."
"Master Wan is quite right,"
An Xin said. "We have only one chance to achieve ultimate success in a single battle; we cannot afford to be anything less than cautious."